Diablo Immortal the joint project by Blizzard and Chinese developer NetEase has seen its release in China delayed just days before it was set to go live. The news arrives after the studio's Weibo (social media platform) account was banned from making new posts last week - which adds an extra dose of strangeness to the announcement.
Damn you, Diablo 2: Resurrected. Damn you to he... oh, wait.
Ahem.
So it turns out the good job on the above Blizzard property from Vicarious Visions, who developed Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, which then led to the team being absorbed by Blizz to become Blizzard Albany, meant that a planned follow-up to the successful relaunch/remake of THPS has been indefinitely shelved. At least that's according to the Birdman himself.
And by "classic shooter gameplay" we mean that Evil West from Flying Wild Hog is a traditional third-person actioner with a seemingly linear narrative path, power-ups and a progression economy, context-based environmental design, skill-trees and weapon upgrades and, most importantly, big bosse. And all tied to a tight and rewarding combat system.
Genre fusion of this juxtaposed level will be the new norm, as more and more games try new ways to cut through as the industry swells with great product and new devs. One such title that's doing just that, and which certainly jumped off the screen to us is Scrap Riders, a cyberpunk-set 16-bit game that fuses classic Point and Click Adventuring with Beat 'em Up mechanics.
Atari's golden age spans the 1970s and early 1980s, when the pixels were blocky and consoles arrived on the scene with sweet wood-paneling. And although Atari still continues to draw on its catalogue with retro-inspired consoles and remasters, Atari Mania actually sounds like something fun and cool. A WarioWare-style microgame celebration that sounds very cool.
Lionhead Studios released the classic movie studio management sim The Movies back in 2005, which in addition to putting you in charge of a studio let you actually make the movies and export them as little viewable cinematic shorts. It's a shame there hasn't been anything like it since, with indie outfit Odyssey Studios looking to change that with Moviehouse.
There's nothing wrong with retro-inspired projects and games that look to capture the feel and spirit of classics, in fact it's something we often share here at AusGamers. With Final Vendettaavailable now digitally on PC (Steam), Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation - and yeah, it's vibes are straight Final Fight. Capcom's classic arcade 'Beat 'em up' that first hit the seen in 1989.
Starship Troopers: Terran Command is a brand-new RTS set out today on PC, and it's set in the same universe as the iconic film from 1997. An awesome slice of sci-fi that is still one of the most quotable and straight-up fun moves ever made. And with that Terran Command also looks and feels like an RTS from the late '90s too, but is that enough to carry you through the game's sizable 20-mission campaign?
And by the creators of the original effort, too. As part of a 12-odd-minutes-long retrospective on the genesis and eventual development of Dragon's Dogma by Hideaki Itsuno and his design team, the lads tore off their respective over-garments to reveal Dragon's Dogma 2 t-shirts, revealing that the game was in the works, while also thanking fans for their patience.
In a new trailer, New Zealand-based developer, A44 Games, details the setting of its forthcoming open-world action-RPG, Flintlock, where magic and industry collide. Dubbed "Flintlock Fantasy" by the studio, and described as a "merge of Napoleonic-era technology and classic magical themes", Flintlock's unique spin on the pen and paper trope that is the wild versus industry is a tantalising one indeed.
With Blizzard noting that this surprise update to the game is "the first of multiple updates coming this year for Warcraft III: Reforged". As a remaster of one of the most celebrated RTS games of all-time, Reforged launched to a lukewarm response from critics and some sizable backlash from fans due to it failing to live up to the promise of a worthy remaster.
Square Enix is definitely all-in on its stallion with fan-favourite, Final Fantasy VII. In a broadcast stream today celebrating the 25th anniversary of the landmark entry in the franchise, the studio unveiled new details and a first look for its next bout of Final Fantasy VII-related gaming, specifically with the second entry in the Remake series, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Overwatch 2 is set to launch on October 5, 2022 (AEST) as a free-to-play live game, kicking off with the game’s first Season of content that is set to bring new maps, modes, and new heroes like Sojourn and the recently announced Aussie addition, Junker Queen. Overwatch 2’s biggest fundamental change, in terms of gameplay, is a switch from the original’s 6v6 to a new 5v5 setup for its core competitive play.
We sit down with the writer and director of The Quarry, Supermassive Games’ Will Byles, and go through just what it takes to create an interactive horror experience. It’s a fascinating look at creating a game like this, what parts are like making a movie, and what it means to be a classic horror experience where you’re in control.
Atomic Heart is a new sci-fi first-person action RPG set in an alternate history futuristic Soviet Union of the 1950's. Earlier this year we got a truly impressive trailer (in Russian) that showcases its evocative art-style and BioShock inspired gameplay. With no news on the game since then, the "#######BER 2022" release date looks to still be on the cards.
Ara: History Untold got a cinematic reveal at the big Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase the other day, and with developer Oxide Games set up by design leads that worked on Civilization 5 (the studio's first game was the popular Ashes of the Singularity) today comes a first look at gameplay. Mostly snippets but the team was on hand to dig a little deeper as part of the Extended Xbox showcase.